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SPEECH 



HON. Cr J. INGERSOLL, OF PENN. 



THE MEXICAN WAR. 



DELIVERED 

IN TITG HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1847. 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF BLAIR AND RIVES. 

1847. 



^.-:CM 



THE MEXICAN WAR 



On the Resolution reported by him from the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Affairs for printing five thou- 
sand extra copies of their Report of last session 
on the Mexican war. 

After, in a few words, disposing of that resolu- 
tion — 

Mr. INGERSOLL proceeded to say, that he 
welcomed the attack begun by Mr. Davis, and fol- 
lowed up by other members, censuring the Ad- 
ministration for the war; and, at one time, even 
intimating impeachment of the President for it. 
Unless the Administration can be vindicated from 
that attack, it will not be able to carry on the war. 
As one of their party, Mr. I. said, he desired no 
stronger issue for the polls. Public judgment, as 
well as feeling, are decidedly with those having in 
charge 'the honor snd character of the country in a 
conflict with a foreign enemy. As a party man, I 
much prefer the war issue to that of the tariff, on 
which, in Pennsylvania, and some other States, 
we are by no^njeans so strong; or the con.stiuitional 
treasury, against which a thousand banks, with 
troops of innumerable retainers, brokers, master 
manufacturers, merchants, and lawyers, perhaps 
the bench and some of the church, with inveterate 
prejudices and selfish apprehensions, are all in 
arms against us. The war is our strength to carry 
us through, if we carry it through manfully and 
successfully, and, with it, to save- the reformed 
tariff and reformed treasury from dangea^ At the 
same time, the war is a novel experiment in Ameri- 
can politics. A foreign war, a war of invasion, 
even though in self-defence, when waged Two thou- 
sand five hundred or three thousand miles from 
the seat of Government, is a novelty, not only 
in American annals, but in the history of the 
world. Cffisar carried on no such extent of con- 
quest, nor Napoleon; Alexander alone, if even 
he, sought enemies at such a vast distance from 
home. They, moreover, carried their Govern- 
ment with their persons. Our officers are under 
orders from Washington to subdue enemies two 
thousand miles from here in Mexico, three or 
four thousand miles in California. I shall briefly 
submit some views of the subject, with unfeigned 
deference to better judgments, but which I have 
carefully consideredbefore intruding them on Con- 
gress and the country. 

In this country alone is the luar-tkclaring faculty 
a legislative power. By our Constitution, to de- 
clare war is a granted and complete power; popu- 



lar, federal, sovereign, and exclusive. No State 
has any right to meddle with it, to declare or make 
war, except in one contingency, which shall be 
noticed as I proceed. The icar-ivaging, or con- 
ducting power, is necessarily Executive, exclusive 
and sovereign, under control of the Legislature. 
Honorable gentlemen, particularly Mr. Sciienck, 
and, if I am not mistaken, also Mr. Hilliard, 
have fallen into the total error, that our republican 
sovereignty is less absolute than regal sovereignty. 
That is a total misapprehension of the constitu- 
tional authority in these United States, both to 
make and declare, and, by their President, to wage 
or conduct war. Upon this subject let me refer to 
the Madison Papers, page 433-4, and page 140. 

On the clause "to make war" — 

■" Mr. PiNCKNEY opposed the vesting this power in the 
Lfgislatuie. Its proceeihiifrs were too tlow. It would meet 
but once a year. The House of Represpiitatives would be 
too numerous for such deliberations. The Sunate would be 
the best depository, being more acquaintejl with foreign 
afl'airs, and most capable of proper resolutiotfS. If the States 
are equally rcpiesented in the Senate, eo as to give no ad- 
vantage to the large States, the power will, notwithstanding, 
be sale ; as the small have their all at stake, in such cases, 
as well as the large States. It would he singular for one 
authority to make war, and another ptace. 

" Mr. Butler. The objections against the Legislature 
lie, in a great degree, against the Senate. He was for vest- 
ing the power in the President, who will have all the requi- 
site qualities, and will not make war but vv'hen the nation 
will support it. 

"Mr. Madison and Mr. Gerry moved to insert 'declare,' 
striking out ' make' war, leaving to the Executive the power 
to repel sudden attacks. 

" Mr. Sherman thought it stood very well. The Execu- 
tive should be able to repel, and not to commence, war. 
' Make' is better than ' declare ;' the latter narrowing the 
power too much. 

" Mr. Gerry never expected to hear, in a republic, a mo- 
tion to empower the Executive alone to declare war. 

" Mr. Ellsworth. There is a material diflerence be- 
tween the cases of making war and making peace. It should 
bo more easy to get out of war than into it. War, also, is a 
simple and overt declaration ; peace, attended with intricate 
and secret negotiations. 

"Mr. Mason was against giving the power of war to the 
Executive, because not safely to be trusted with it; or to the 
Senate, because not so constructed as to be entitled to it. 
He was for clogging, rather than facilitating war; but for 
facilitating peace. H* preferred ' declare' to ' make.' 

"On the motion to insert 'declare' instead of 'mafte,' it 
was agreed to — 

" Connecticut,* Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Vir- 



* Connecticut voted in the negative ; but on the remark 
by Mr. King, lliat " make" war might be understood to " con- 
duct" it, which was an executive function, Mr. Ellswortit 
gave up his objection, and the vole was changed to ay. 



ginia. North Carolina, Soutli Carolina, Georgiii, ay — 8. New 
Hampshire, no — 1. Massachusetts, absent. 

" Mr. Pinckney's motion, to strike out the whole clause, 
was disagreed to, without call of States. 

" Mr. Butler moved to give the Legislature the power of 
poace, as they were to have that of war. 

" Mr. Gerry seconds him. Eight Senators may possibly 
exercise the power, if vested in the body, and fourteen, if all 
should be present; and may, consequently, give up part of 
the United States. The Senate are more liable to be cor- 
rupted by an enemy than the whole Legislature. 

" On the motion for adding ' and peace' after ' war,' it was 
unanimously negatived." 

Congress declares war, and the President icages 
it with the power and means conferred on him by- 
Congress. In all which attributes, both the legis- 
lative and the executive are as absolute and plen- 
ipotentiary as any sovereign in the world. Not 
the Russian Autocrat or Turkish Sultan, nor Na- 
poleon in full culmination of his stupendous bel- 
iigerant attributes, were moi-e sovereign than this 
Government in this solemn war. Republican sov- 
ereignty is as omnipotent as monarchal: and this 
is one of those granted full powers by the American 
people and States, conferred on this Federal Gov- 
ernment, which induced the chief magistrate of 
most genius — Jefferson — to pronounce this the 
strongest government in the world. Such it cer- 
tainly is, in any popular war. Our act of Con- 
gress of the 13lh of last May gn.\-e poxcer and com- 
mand to the President, whether as chief magistrate 
or commander-in-chief, indeed as both, to prose- 
cute the existing icar: says that act — to prosecute it, 
that is, to pursue it, to carry it on, to use every 
and command all means to wage it; that act fur- 
ther directs to « speedy and successful termination. 
Accordingly, on the same day, the 13th of May, 
1346, the President issued his executive proclama- 
tion — (Laws of last session, page 28A) — "proclaiming 
' the same to all whom it may concern, enjoining all 
'persons to be vigilant and zealous in discharging 

< the duties incident thereto, and exhorting the 

< good people of the United States, as they love 
' their country, as they feel the wrongs which 
« forced on them the last resort of injured nations, 
' and as they consult the best means under the 
' blessings of divine Providence, of abridging its 

< calamities, to exert themselves in preserving order 

< and promoting concord, maintaining the authority 

< and the efficacy of the laws, and in supporting 
t and invigorating all the measures which may be 

adopted by the constituted authorities for obtain- 

< ing a speedy, a just, and an honorable peace." 

Thus WAR was declared, proclaimed, and to be 
waged, by one small word of only three letters, 
but big with immense significance. And I claim 
the honor of suggesting the indispensable neces- 
sity of that li-ttle word as part of the bill, wlien tiie 
measure was discussed the Sunday evening pre- 
ceding its enactment into a law by a few members 
of this House and the Senate met together on the 
exigency, one of whom [Mr. McKay] I now see 
near me. War was put into the preamble and 
into the bill, with no idea of forcing an unpalatable 
averment on the parly opposed to this Administra- 
tion; just the contrary. There was every dispo- 
sition and inducement to conciliate and unite them 
with us, in which we happily succeeded, for onl}'' 
fourteen votes in this House, and hardly one, if 
any, in the other, were cast against ,the war act of 



the 13th May; the alacrity and despatch of wliose' 
instantaneous enactment were asignalmanifestati«n 
of national representative energy, and of nearly 
unanimous feeling on the subject throughout this 
wide-spread republican empire. A noble and in- 
structive act ! Only fourteen members of Congress, 
representing not one million of people, opposed it, 
when voted by acclamation by the Representatives 
of twenty millions — twenty to one. 1 presume to 
throw no blame on the dissentienfs, none at all. 
They did as they thought proper in a free country. 
But nearly all its people, bond and free, by their 
Representatives in Congress assembled, acclaimed 
with instant and earnest welcome the Executive in- 
formation to us that war existed in fact, and should 
be forthwith declared in solemn form, according to 
our constitutional rites, in order that the Mexican 
invaders might be repelled, chastised, and con- 
quered . Scarce a slave or a freeman , woman , child , 
or citizen, of this broad land, but declared war, 
and ordered its rapid prosecution to speedy and suc- 
cessful termination. 

Impeachment, which has been faintly talked 
of, is, said Somers, -(the great author of the first 
Bill of Rights,) like the sword of Goliah, to be 
kept in the temple wrapped in the linen^ephod, not 
to be brought out but on the most trying occasions. 
Yes, and it is a two-edged sword, too, for the Presi- 
dent would have been much more obnoxious ta 
impeachment for hesitation or disobedience to this 
act of Congress, than for any such preceding step 
to meet and [repel hostilities, as has been imputed 
to him without foundation. 

We are at war with Mexico; a«d what is that.' 
Nations know no other arbiter but the sword or 
compact. Every nation, therefore, has a right to 
resort to force as. the only means of redress for in- 
jury from anotlier nation, as individuals would- 
have if not restrained, by law. Each nation has 
also the right to judge for itself of the injury and 
the redress, and to apply the remedy of national 
force to national injury. Accordingly, have mem- 
bers of Congress ^pondered what,, representing 
twenty millions of people in this nation,- they did^ 
by their declaration of war? They put an army of 
fifteen thousand regular troops, fifty thousand of 
three hundred thousand volunteers, rushing, all has- 
tily armed and equipped, from homes of luxurious 
prosperity to distant warfare, a reserve of more 
than two millions of militia, mone/enough ta sup- 
port these forces, loans, taxes, regiments of rifle- 
men, companies of sappers and miners, pontoniers,. 
and a much larger na^al force than the navies of 
Great Britain and France combined — all these vast 
means, with implements of destr*iction innumera- 
ble, our act of Congress put at the President's dis- 
posal, and ordered him to wage war with them, 
and more yet if needed. Are honorable gentlemen 
aware that every timber-head of the two millions 
and five hundred thousand tonnage of these United 
States — its whole and entire navigating faculties, by 
sail or steam, sea, lake, and river — are all, ail put 
at the President's disposal, with sovereign com- 
mand to use them in hostilities against Mexico ': 
The eighth section of the act of Congress declaring 
war enacts that the President is authorized fortli- 
icith to complete all the public armed vessels, and 
to purcimse or charter, arm, equip, and man, such 



mtrchanl vessels and steamhcals as may Le found fit, 
or converted into armed vessels for the public ser- 
vice, &c. 

With these immense materials of war, to be 
prosecuted speedily and successfully, I as]c, what 
was our minister, the chief maujstrate, executor of 
the national will, what was he to do t What could 
he do, but strike the enemy wliei'ever vulnerable ? 
President Polk's war! I deny it. It is ray war; 
it is your war; it is the war of these United States; 
all represented in Congress assembled. It is our 
act — ay, the act of the minority, too, of the four- 
teen members voting against it, if majorities rule 
and minorities are bound by law. It is the act, a 
solemn and signal act, of the whole country. Never 
was an act more so, passed almost by acclamation, 
almost unanimously, without hesitation or delay. 
We pulled the trigger; we applied the match; and 
it is now impossible to stop the ball but by desert- 
ing our guns, and flying from the enemy. There 
is no other option — no alternative but disgraceful 
retreat. 

And everybody knows where we pointed the 
gun, when we fired it off — we all know what we 
aimed at. Mexico has no ships, no commerce, 
not a sail, not a rag afloat. We ordered the Presi- 
dent to continue and enforce the blockade of all her 
ports on the Atlantic and Pacific, and take and 
hold as many as possible of them everywhere. 
We are all delighted when any of them are cap- 
tui'ed — mortified and vexed by any delay or failure 
to take them. We reinforced our regular army 
by doubling its number, and adding thirty thou- 
sand volunteer levies to it — for what? To stop and 
garrison Texas? to loiter and sicken on the banks 
of the Bravo? No. We were nearly all indignant 
at General Scott for saying that our invdsion of 
Mexico should be deferred till Septeml)er. We 
were out of all patience with General Taylor for 
not sooner crossing -the river — not hastening his 
march to Monterey, to Saltillo, to San Luis de 
Potosi. We justly and universally admired Gen- 
eral Kearny 's brilliant, perhaps unexampled, expe- 
dition over New Mexico to California. The whole 
country cried out to our navy to blockade and cap- 
ture; to our armies under Taylor, Kearny, and 
Wool, to advance, to invade, to capture towns, to 
overrun provinces, and, in sliort, wage war in 
Mexico. 

I refer again to the Madison Papers, page 140, 
for Roger Sherman's opinion of the executive duty 
to enforce an act of Congress. Mr. Sherman said he 
considered " the executive magistracy as nothing 
more than an institution for carrying the will of 
the legislature into effect; that the legislature is 
the depository of the supreme will of the society, 
as they were the best judges of the business that 
ou:jht to be done by the executive department." 

For war is ubiquitous. Once declared, says 
Bacon, "after the indictvon, it is no longer con- 
fined to any place, but at large." War, as often 
waged, is a theme of copious lamentation; and so 
it should be. But what the old women of both 
sexes are given to deplore as the calamities of war, 
where have they been yet felt in these hostilities 
with Mexico? Never was this country more pros- 
perous or so powerful as at present. Its triumphs 
so far over Mexico have been admirable lessons i 



toiler, and manifestations to the world, that the 
policy of all nations is peace with these United 
States; and that Europe will be wise in seldom 
rousing that martial spirit which, though it slum- 
bers lo'iig and forbears much, is never dead in the 
American people. Without counting an inch of 
territory acquired, we have gained more, much 
more already, than indemnity for the past, and 
security for the future. This war is the infallible 
prelude to lasting and prosperous peace, as was the 
much more trying war of 1812. 

But wars of invasion and conquest are said to be 
unjust and odious — said so by those who have 
lived upon them, man and boy, (so to speak) — 
those nations which have lived upon wars of in- 
vasion and conquest, for ages past, and are now 
subsisting on their conquests, won by invasions. 
Our case is not so indefensible. War against 
Mexico must needs be v.-aged by invasion and con- 
quest; there is no other way to peace. But I mean 
to show unanswerably that all parties in the Uni- 
ted States, all Administrations of this Govenmient 
since Mexico ceased to be a Spanish province, 
have united in the policy of getting from her by 
fair means precisely those territories which, and 
which only, she has now constrained us to take 
by force; though even yet, we are disposed to pay 
for them, not by blood merely, but in money, too. 
For the purpose of this demonstration, let me re- 
call attention to the history of our Mexican rela- 
tions, as proved by the documents I hold in my 
hand, and will submit to all candid men. Espe- 
cially do I respectfully invite the attention of our 
Whig opponents, to measures of great and wise 
American policy, begun twenty-three years ago by 
Whig statesmen, and steadily pursued ever since 
in the face of this whole country, and before the 
world. President Polk's official inheritance was 
the American policy of, first, excluding European 
encroachments from this continent; and, secondly, 
extending the dominions of the United States in 
Mexico. 

First, let me read a noble declaration of inde- 
pendence uttered by President Monroe in 1823, 
reasserted by President Adams in ld26, welcomed 
by all Americans, not relished but not resisted in 
Europe, and become the settled policy of our Gov- 
ernment: 

" If an attempt by force liail bPen luarte by allied Europe 
to subvert the liberties of the southern uatiuns on this con- 
tinent, and to erect upon the ruins of their free institutions 
iuonarchical systems, the people of the United Slates would 
have stood pled:ied, in the opinion of their E.tecutive, not 
to any foreign State, but to tliemselves and to their poster- 
ity, by their dearest interests and hi^jhest duties, to resist, to 
the utmost, such attempt." — Pre-^idetU Jldams^s Message to 
Cjuc;ress, 30th March, 18J6 ; Ho. Doc. Ko. 142, 1st scss. i.9th 
Oong. 

When Texas, from an independent nation, con- 
descended to become one of these United States, 
we all know that the two greatest maritime powers 
of the world, Great Britain and France, resisted it 
almost unto v.'ar. They were literally id the field 
against us, to prevent that great consummation; 
and never was national sympathy, invincible re- 
publican attachment and brotherhood — to which 
alone we owe, under Providence, the annexation 
of Texas as a State to this Union — never was the 
inbred and invincible love of republican kindred 



6 



and institutions so wonderfully manifested. Eng- 
land and France were in the field— by flood ancf 
field, sea and land — to prevent it. Mr. Pakenham, 
long British minister in Mexico, was sent here. 
Mr. Bankhead, once British minister here, was 
sent to Mexico. Captain Elliott, the British, Mr. 
Saligny, the French, ministers in Texas, were all 
but in arms to mar the union, as they openly and 
loudly forbade the bans. Vessels of war, English 
and French, plied between Vera Cruz and Gal- 
veston. Protests, protocols^all that diplomacy, 
in its most urgent proceedings, could effect — in 
fact, much more, no doubt, than we know of — was 
done to keep Texas from us. At the same time, 
large numbers of our most influential statesmen — 
Mr. Gallatin, Mr. Van Buren, Mr. Clay— de- 
nounced the union with Texas as war with Mex- 
ico. . Mr. Polk, nevertheless, persevered, and 
annexation was consummated. 

It would have been without war, but for Euro- 
pean interference, encouraging Mexican hostility, 
and perhaps their reliance on the Opposition here. 
Two motives encouraged Mexico to brave us, and 
to plunge herself into war: first, she expected aid 
from England and France, in wliich she has been 
totally disappointed; and, secondly, she had 
learned that Presidents cannot make or declare 
war, but that Congress alone has that power. 
From President Q,uincy Adams to President Polk, 
all the Presidents had been complaining and threat- 
ening, but could do no more, as Mexico well 
knew. When her oflicers seized English prop- 
erty, or violated English persons, it was a word and 
a blow. Mr. Pakenl]am brought the Mexican 
Government to capitulation at once; for he could 
strike as well as threaten, and almost as quick. 
When France was ill-treated, the King'? gallant 
son stormed St. Juan d'Ulloa, and Mexico sub- 
mitted at once: for nothing,is more unfounded than 
the supposed obstinate invincibility of that country ; 
on thecontrary, its Government and people have al- 
ways, and tamely, submitted to English and French 
power, not to mention a long series of, submission 
to a long dynasty of miserable military usurpers 
of their own; and they will crouch in like manner 
to us, whenever, instead of making warlike peace, 
as we too long made peace like war, we put the 
iron heel of war upon their neck, and make them 
feel that Congress, though Presidents can only 
bark without biting till Congress act — that Con- 
gress and President together can conquer peace as 
well as declare war. 

It is neither my place nor policy to complain of 
President Polk's anxiety for peace. It is a natural 
and laudable anxiety. Nor will I doubt that his 
suffering (if he did) Santa Ana's return to Mexi- 
co was justified by knowledge of circumstances. 
Jackson associated the pirate Lafitte and his band 
with our brave defenders of New Orleans. But I 
trust that henceforth peace will not be our watch- 
word. Its renewed overture last summer, under 
circumstances of which I am uninformed, should 
be our last tender. 1 fear that these advances have 
no tendency for the furtherance of peace. For 
one, I shall always believe that the President's 
annual message, last December, would have an- 
nounced the terms of peace, if we had waged war, 
from its declaration in May, with all our might 



and with all our hearts, without thoughts of peace» 
except as the fruit of war. From first to last, our 
only way to peace has been the ]n-osecution of suc- 
cessfiol war. Withdraw your squadi'on from our 
coast, said Paredes, and we did so. Withdraw 
your army from our borders, not to the Nueces, 
but beyond the Sabine. I will try to show how 
Paredes' lieutenants on the Bravo — Arista and Am- 
pudia — should have been confronted, as the best, 
if not the only way, to prevent, by crushing in the 
bud, the hostilities Paredes, Arista, and Ampudia, 
were suffered to mature from the city of Mexico 
to Texas. When Mexico passed the Rubicon, 
we should have crossed the Bravo. 

But before I take up that part of the subject, let 
me premise an authentic and indisputable view of 
the duty which the act of Congress declaring war 
imposed on the Executive, as to the much ques- 
tioned, much misrepresented, and, -probably, much 
misunderstood, invasion of Mexico, and territorial 
acquisitions which the President seems to have 
aimed at. I have said that he inherited from his 
presidential predecessors the high, imperious obli- 
gation of protecting the soil of thjs continent from 
the further tread of European encroachment. That 
was the Monroe position of 1823, sustained by his 
immediate successor, Mr. Adams, who, as Mr. 
Monroe's Secretary of State, had contributed to 
that bold but wise defiance by a prudent position — 
prudent, as it mostly is, to take an early and reso- 
lute stand on right at the first threat of a hostile 
assault; taught by Tasso, that — 

" Deset by dang.;r and with toils oppress'd. 
The boldest counsels often prove the best." 

Let me say of a Chief Magistrate less respected, 
perhaps, than he deserves to be, that Monroe was 
a wise, patriotic, and prudent, thoroughly bred 
statesman, who, in announcing what at first seemed 
to be perilous defiance of Europe, took a stand 
both prudent and well timed. That position Pres- 
ident Polk has most effectually maintained. The 
Texas controversy, at all events, has forever re- 
lieved us of European interference in exclusively 
American continental afl'airs. 

But with that position was intimately connected 
another, which likewise Mr. Polk inherited; and 
he would be worse than impeachable of high crime 
and misdemeanor — would be contemptible, despi- 
cable — if he did not enforce: that is, an extension 
of the territories of this republic. It has been the 
settledpolicy of every Administration, since Wash- 
ington began it by Indian conquests, which all his 
successors have })ursued to this moment. Jeffer- 
son signally developed it, by the acquisition of 
Louisiana; Madison, by part of what is now Ala- 
bama, and an attempt to take all Canada; Monroe, 
by annexing Florida, the most costly of all our 
territorial aggrandizements; Mr. Adams's Admin- 
istration, with Mr. Clay as Secretary of State, con- 
ceived the wise plan of acquiring Texas by pur- 
chase, for which purpose negotiations with Mexi- 
co were set on foot as soon as that Administration 
began. Those experienced, and, by the large par- 
ty now disposed to condemn Mexican conquest, 
approved statesmen, are entitled to the honor 
which I award them of perceiving that the Sa- 
bine is a dangerous boundary for these United 
States on the Cxulf of Mexico, and that it must be 



carried to the Bravo, beyond the vast wilderness 
on the east side of that great river, by which nature 
has established the territorial demarcation between 
the North American and Mexican races. The 
Bravo was the boundary of Louisiana, till, by 
the treaty of Florida, unwisely brought up to the 
Sabine in a treaty with Spain, to which Mexico 
succeeded; and the statesman who, as Secretary of 
State, negotiated that treaty, [Mr. Adams,] made 
it one of the earliest and most earnest endeavors of 
his Administration to restore the limits on the 
Bravo instead of the Sabine. Such was the con- 
stant effort of his Administration, and the settled 
public policy of every succeeding Administration, 
till that of Jackson, always marked by great 
strokes, endeavored, besides Texas, to acquire a 
new boundary on the Pacific as well as the Gulf 
of Mexico, which, running through New Mexico 
to California, would give us San Francisco, Mon- 
terey, Guymas, and other important ports on the 
Pacific Ocean, essential, if not indispensable, to 
the development of American commerce and navi- 
gation. This will appear beyond contest by the 
documents I hold in my hand, and to which I have 
time by our limit only to refer by their dates and 
numbers, but shall incorporate at large in whatever 
publication of this view may be made. These 
documents are authentic facts of our history, pro- 
ving that acquisition from Mexico by conquest is 
no more than the substitute which she herself has 
forced on us for acquisition of the very same terri- 
tories by purchase, when we much preferred pur- 
chase to conquest — always preferring to pay in 
money rather than blood, as we are still willing to 
add money to blood, and combine purchase with 
conquest as the basis of peace fair, and favorable 
to both parties, to the war which Mexico has in- 
sisted on instead of a peaceable profitable sale. 

I refer to the printed Executive Document No. 
42, of the first session of the twenty-fifth Con- 
gress: Mr. Secretary Clay's letter to Mr. Poinsett, 
then our Minister in Mexico, dated 26th of March, 
1825: 

" Some difficulties may possibly hereafter arise between 
the two countries from the line thus agreed upon, against 
which it would be advisable now to guard, if practicable ; 
and as the Government of Mexico may be supposed not to 
have any disinclination to the fixation of a new line, whicli 
would prevent those difficulties, the President wishes you 
to sound it on that subject, and to avail yourself of a favor- 
able disposition, if you should find it, to effect that object. 
The line of the Sabine approaches our great western mart 
nearer than could be wished. Perhaps the Mexican Govern- 
ment may not be unwilling to establish that of the Rio Bra- 
sos de Dios, or the Rio Colorado, or the Snow Mountains, or 
the Rio del Norte, in lieu of it. By the agreed line, portions 
of both the Red river and branches of the Arkansas, are 
thrown on the Mexican side, and tlie navigation of both 
those rivers, as well as that of the Sabine, is made common 
to the respective inhabitants of the two countries. When 
the countries adjacent to those waters shall come to be 
thickly inhabited, collision and misunderstandings may arise 
from the community thus established, in the use of their 
navigation, which it would be well now to prevent. If the 
line were so altered as to throw altogether on our side Red 
river and Arlcansas, and their respective tributary streams, 
and the line on the Sabine were removed further west, all 
causes of future collision would be prevented. The Gov- 
ernment of Mexico may have a motive for such an alteration 
of the line as is here proposed, in the fact that it would have 
tlie effect of placing the city of Mexico nearer the centre of 
its territories. If the line were so changed, the greater part, 
if not the whole, of the powerful, warlike, and turbulent In- 
dian nation of the Caraanches, would be thrown on the 



side of the United States; and as an equivalent for the pro- 
posed cession of territory, they would stipulate to restrain, 
as far as practicable, the Camanches from committing hos- 
tilities and depredations upon the territories and people, 
whether Indians or otherwise, of Mexico." 

Extract of a letter from Mr. Clay to Mr. Poinsett, 
dated March 15, 1827. 

" The fixation of a line of boundary of the United States on 
the side of Mexico, should be such as to secure, not merely 
certainty and apparent safety in the respective limits of the 
two countries, but the consciousness of freedom from all 
danger of attack on either side, and the removal of all mo- 
tives for such attack. That of the Sabine brings Mexico 
nearer our great western commercial capital than is desira- 
ble ; and although we now are, and for a long time may re- 
main, perfectly satisfied with the justice and moderation of 
our neighbor, still it would be belter for both parties that 
neither should feelthathe is in any condition of exposure on 
the remote contingency of an alteration in existing friendly 
sentiments. 

" Impressed with these views, the President has thought 
the present might be an auspicious i)eriod for urging a nego- 
tiation, at Mexico, to settle the boundary between the terri- 
tories of the two republics. The success of the negotiation 
will probably be promoted by throwing into it other motives 
than those which strictly belong to the subject itself. If we 
could obtain such a boundary as we desire, the Government 
of the United States might be disposed to pay a reasonable 
pecuniary consideration. The boundary which we prefer, is 
that which, beginning at the mouth of the Rio del Norte, on 
the sea, shall ascend that river to the mouth of Rio Puerco, 
thence, ascending this river to its source, and from its 
source, by a line due north, to strike the Arkansas; thence, 
following the course of the southern bank of the Arkansas 
to its source, in latitude forty-two degrees north, and 
thence, by that parallel of latitude to the South Sea. The 
boundary thus described, would, according to the United 
States tanner's map, published in the United States, 
leave Santa F6 within the limits of Mexico, and the whole 
of Red river, or Rio Roxo, and the Arkansas, as far up as it 
is probably navigable, within the limits assigned to the Uni- 
ted States. If that boundary be unattainable, we would, as 
the next most desirable, agree to that of the Colorado; be- 
ginning at its mouth, in the Bay of Bernardo, and ascending 
the river to its source, and thence by a line due north to the 
Arkansas, and thence, as above traced, to the South Sea. 
This latter boundary would probably also give us the whole 
of the Red river, would throw us somewliat farther trom 
Santa F6, but it would strike the Arkansas possibly at a nav- 
igable point. To obtain the first described boundary, the 
President authorizes you to offer to the Government of Mex- 
ico a sum not exceeding one million of dollars. If you find 
it impracticable to procure that line, you are then autho- 
rized to offer for the above line of the Colorado, the sum of five 
hundred thousand dollars. If either of the above offers should 
be accepted, you may stipulate for the payment of the sum 
of money as you may happen to agree, within any period 
not less than three months after the exchange at the city of 
Washington of the ratification of the treaty. 

" Should you be able to conclude a treaty, it will be neces- 
sary that it should contain a stipulation for the mutual right 
of navigation of the Rio del Norte or the Colorado, as the 
one or the other of them may be agreed on ; and for the ex- 
ercise of a common jurisdiction over the river itself. The 
treaty may also provide for the confirmation of all bona fide 
grants for lands made prior to its date, with the conditions of 
which there shall liave been a compliance; and it may con- 
tain a provision similar to that in the Louisiana and Florida 
treaties, for the incorporation of the -inhabitants into the 
Union as soon as it can he done consistently with the prin- 
ciples of the Federal Constitution, and for their enjoyment 
of their liberty, property, and religion. 

" There should also be a provision made for the delivery of the 
country to the United States simultaneously, or as nearly so as 
practicable, with the payment of the consideration. We should 
be satisfied with a surrender of possession at that time, as far 
as the river line extends, (the Del Norte or the Colorado,) 
and to receive the residue as soon as the line to the Arkan- 
sas can be traced, which the treaty ought to provide should 
be done without unnecessary delay, and, at all events, before 
a future day, to he specified." 

Such were the efforts of Mr. Adam's adminis- 
tration to obtain Texas. We next come to Gen- 
eral Jackson's administration. 



8 



Mr. Van Biiren to Mr. Poinsett. < 

" DEPARTiMENT OF STATE, 

<• Washington, August 25, ] 829. 

'= Sir: It is the wish of the President that you should, with- 
out delay, open a negotiation with the Mexican Government 
for the purchase of so much of the province of Texas as is 
liereinafter described, or for such a part thereof as they can 
be induced to cede to us, if the same be conformable to 
either of the localities with which you are hereinafter fur- 
nished. The President is aware of the difficulties which 
may be interposed to the accomplishment of the object in 
view; but he confidently believes that the views of the mat- 
ter which it will be in your power to submit, and the pecu- 
niary consideration which you will be authorized to propose, 
will enable you to effect it. He is induced, by a deep con- 
viction of tlie real necessity of the proposed acquisition, not 
only as a guard for our western frontier, and the protection 
of New Orleans, but also to secure forever to the inhabitants 
of the valley of tlie Mississippi the undisputed and undis- 
turl)ed possession of the navigation of that river, together 
with the belief that the present moment is particularly favor- 
able for the purpose, to request your early and unremitting 
attention to the subject. 

" The territory, of which a cession is desired by the United 
States, is all that part of the province of Texas which lies 
east of a line beginning at the Gulf of Mexico, in the centre 
of the desert or Grand Prairie, which lies west of tlie Rio 
Nueces, and is represented to be nearly two hundred miles in 
width, and to extend north to the mountains. The proposed 
line following the course of the centre of that desert or prai- 
rie, north, to the mountains, dividing the waters of the Rio 
Grande del Norte from those that run eastward to the Gulf, 
and until it strikes our present boundary at the forty-second 
degree of north latitude. It is known "that the line above 
described includes the Spanish settlements of La Bahia and 
San Antonia de Bexar, comprising all the Mexican inhabit- 
ants of the province, and this may furnish an objection to 
so extensive a cession. If, from this circumstance, the ob- 
jection should be made, and you find the Mexican Govern- 
ment disposed to cede any portion of the territory in question, 
you are authorized to agree to any one of the following 
lines, regarding those farthest west as preferable. The sec- 
ond proposed line commences on the western bank of the 
Rio de la Baca, where it discharges itself into Matagorda 
Bay, and continuing up that river on the western bank 
thereof to the head of its most westerly branch ; thence due 
north until the line shall strike the Rio Colorado ; and thence 
up the Colorado river, on the western bank thereof, to the 
head of its principal stream ; thence by the most direct 
course that will intersect our line at the forty-second degree 
of north latitude, and include the head-waters of the Arkan- 
sas and Red rivers. 

" The third proposal may be a line to commence at the 
mouth of the Rio. Colorado, where that river empties. itself 
into Matagorda Bay, and on the west bank thereof, to con- 
tinue up that river to the head of its principal stream ; and 
thence by a line drawn from the head of its principal stream 
so as to intersect our present boundary line at the forty- 
second degree of north latitude, including also tlie head- 
waters last mentioned. 

"The last proposition may be a line to commence on the 
Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the Rio Brassos de Dios, 
and on the westerly bank of that river, to pursue the course 
of that river up to the head of its most westerly branch, by 
the west bank thereof; and from the head of that branch 
of the river by such a course as will enable us to intersect 
our present line at the point already indicated. 

"In the event otadoptingcither of the propositions which 
establish the mouth of the' La Baca river, or the mouth of 
the Colorado river as the boundary, it must be stipulated 
for an extension of that line due south from the mouth of 
the river to the Gulf of Mexico. 

"The preceding boundaries are as definite as, with the 
materials in the department, I have been able to make them. 
It is, nevertheless, probable that they ni.ay be greatly im- 
proved by a more accurate knowledge of the localities of 
the country. It is submitted to your discretion to make 
such alterations as shall appear to you to be clearly bene- 
ficial to the United States. 

"Tile boundary at present assumed by Mexico is deemed 
objectionable as well on the ground of its alleged uncertainty 
as for reasons of a different character. It is represented to 
us that of the two streams which empty into the Sabiue Bay 
through the same channel, the one farthest west is th* most 
considerable, and may, with reason, be claimed to be the 



one referred to in the treaty. The distance between them 
although only four miles where they enter the bay, at some 
places approaches to one hundred. That there is much 
ignorance of the localities of the province, and consequently 
confusion and error in the maps of it which are extant, is 
certain. Whether the representations which have been 
made upon the subject to this Government be founded in 
truth, or are the suggestions of interested individuals to sub- 
serve particular views, remains to be seen ; but this is not 
the only nor the strongest objection. Tiie Sabine is a very 
inconsiderable stream, and only navigable by small crafts. 
The bay is shallow, and neither it nor the river can ever 
become the seat of sufficient commerce to authorize the 
establishment of a custom-house or other public agency in 
its vicinity. Without such establishment, it is impossible 
to prevent that frontier from becoming the seat of an exten- 
sive system of smuggling, alike injurious to the true interests 
of both countries. The lands east of the Sabine are, for the 
most part, and to a great extent, so poor and so effectually 
cut off from commercial facilities, tliat they never can re- 
ceive or sustain a dense or even respectable population. It 
is mainly to that cause that the objectionable character of 
its present inhabitants is to be attributed. The frontier, 
therefore, as long as it remains such, must continue to be 
what it has heretofore been, a receptacle for smugglers and 
outlaws. In addition to the disadvantage which must result 
to the United States from their dependence on such a popu- 
lation for the protection, in the first instance, of their bor- 
der, the pre;-ent state of things is well calculated to create 
incessant difficulties and broils with the citizens of the adja- 
cent parts of Mexico, who, owing to the superiority of their 
soil, and the greater commercial advantages that belong to 
that side of the river, will naturally be more numerous and 
of a more respectable character. There may not be cause 
for much apprehension from this source at the present day, 
or for a short time to come; but in so grave a matter as tlie 
arrangement and the establishment of a boundary between 
independent nations, it becomes us to look into futurity. 
Thus viewing the matter, it is far from visionary to see in 
the present condition of things the germ of future discon- 
tents, which may grow into national complaints and heart- 
burnings, ar.d perpetually foster and inflame a spirit of jeal- 
ousy, to which our neighbors are already too much inclined. 

" By yielding to the United States a portion of Texas, the 
Mexican Government will not only be relieved from the ex- 
pense of its several garrisons in that country, but will secure 
a protection to their own territory, by interposingthe United 
States between the Indians and their eastern frontier, which 
is their exposed front. The Cumanches have hitherto con- 
fined their expeditions to the eastern side of the Kio de! 
Norte, and no apprehension is felt on the west side of that 
river; for, in addition to the extent of desert to cross, before 
they can reach the western settlements, there is also a river 
of great width, with a rapid current, to overcome. There 
is another consideration, of much intrinsic weight, which 
may be urged, if reference to it wnuld not, in your judg- 
ment, give cause of offence. Being on the spot, and fully 
conversant with the feelings of those who constitute the 
Mexican Governnient, and with current events, your judg- 
ment as to the effects likely to be produced by what is said 
or proposed upon this subject, is most to be depended upon. 
The unsettled state of the Mexican Government is too well 
known to be disguised. The successiverevolutions to which 
it has already been exposed attest the fact; and the dangers 
which threaten it from the intrigues, if not the open hostil- 
ities, of Spain, are of a character which cannot be regarded 
witli indilfcronce. This consideration, with many others 
that might be stated, but which your knowledge of circum- 
stances will readily suggest, expose her extended confeder- 
acy to the hazard of dismembeiiiient. It will readily be 
admitted, by her well-informed men, that in such an event, 
the first successful blow would most probably be struck 
in Texas. Although the separation of that territory for a 
limited period would not be of much importance, still the 
probable effect of the example could not fail to be highly 
detrimental. A state of things which renders so disastrous 
an event possible, not to say probable, deserves the serious 
consideration of that Government. 

" The line proposed as the one most desirable to us would 
constitute a natural separation of the resources of the two 
nations. It is the centre of a country uninhabitable on the 
Gulf; and (on the mountains) so difficult of access, and so 
poor, as to furnish no inducement for a,land intercourse ; 
and, of course, no theatre for those differences that are 
almost inseparable from a neighborhood of commercial in- 
terests. It corresponds with the habitual feeliugs of the 



9 



people of Mexico, and witli tlie avowiil policy of tlie iMcxi- 
can Gnvertimeiit, by causing a wide separation and difficul- 
ties of iiitercourt-e between the inliabitantsof the two coun- 
tries, and by preventing those excitements and biclverings 
invariably produced by the contijiuous operation of conflict- 
ing laws, habits, and interests. The coninierci;il establish- 
ment which would be forthwith made at the Nueces, and 
in its vicinity, would enable us to preserve, in a great degree, 
the morals of the inhabitants of both sides, by the preven- 
tion of smuggling; and the Mexican Government, by thus 
respecting the real interests of the United States, without 
actual prejudice to its own, woidd afford the strongest evi- 
dence of thatspirit of friendship by which the United States 
have always been influenced towards it, and which should 
ever characterize the conduct of neighboring republics. 

" The President docs not desire the proposed cession with- 
out rendering a just and fair equivalent for it. He therefore 
authorizes you to offer to the Mexican Government for a ces- 
sion according to the first-mentioned boundary, a sum not ex- 
ceeding four millions of dollars ; and so strong are his convic- 
tions of its great value to the United States, that he uill not 
object if you should find it hulisjiensahly necessary to go as high 
as five million'!. You will, of course, consult the interests 
of the United States, by obtaining the cession (if it can be 
obtained at all) upon terms as favorable and for a price as 
low as practicable, regarding the sum above stated only as 
the maximum amount to which you are authorized to go. 
Should you find the Government of Mexico unwilling to 
part with as large a portion of their territory as would be in- 
cluded in the first-mentioned bounds, but disposed to cede 
a less quantity, you will, in such case, endeavor to obtain 
a cession, agreeable to some one of the boundaries above 
described, urging them in the order of preference before 
stated, and stipulate to pay therefor a sum which, estimating 
five millions as a fair compensation for the largest extent 
proposed, would be a proportionate equivalent for that which 
is ceded. 

" A credit of three or four j'ears, by annual and equal in- 
stalments, upon an interest of six per centum, would be 
preferred ; but if necessary, you may stipulate for the pay- 
ment of the money within four months, or some other rea- 
sonable lime after the exchange of the final ratifications of 
the treaty and the delivery of tlie possession of tlie ceded 
territory. The ratification must be required to take place 
on the part of the Mexican Government before the treaty is 
submitted to the Senate of the United States for its ratifica- 
tion on our part. 

" I have already stated, that the present moment is regard- 
ed by us as an auspicious one to secure the cession ; and will 
now add, that there does not appear to be any reasonable ob- 
jection to its being embraced, on the score of delicacy, or from 
any apprehension tliat, in doing so, we would give offence 
to the Government of Mexico. Nothing would be more ad- 
verse to the feelings of the President tlian to give that Gov- 
erment reason to believe that he is capable of taking advan- 
tage of tlieir necessities to obtain from them any portion of 
the Mexican territory, the cession of vvhicli would impair 
the true interests or commit the honor of that country. 

" The comparatively small value of the territory in question 
to Mexico, its remote and disconnected situation, the unset- 
tled condition of her affairs, the depressed and languishing 
state of her finances, and the still, and at tliis moment par- 
ticularly threatening attitude of Spain, all combine to point 
out and recommend to Mexico the policy of parting with a 
portion of her territory of very limited and contingent bene- 
fit, to supply herself with the means of defending tlie residue 
with the better prospect of success, and with less onerous 
burdens to her citizens. It is for the Federal Government 
of Mexico, if they approve of the policy of doing so, to judge 
of their constitutional power to make the cession. It is 
bclievi-d that no doubt could exist on that point, if the con- 
sent of the State of Coahuila wyre obtained; and if the views 
wc take of the true interests of the republic of Mexico are 
not founded in error, it is supposed that such consent would 
not be witliheld. 

" Should you be able to conclude a treaty, and either of 
the rivers herein mentioned be agreed upon as the boundary, 
it will be necessary that it should contain a stipulation for 
the mutual right of navigation, and for thatof common juris- 
diction over the river itself. The treaty may also provide 
for the confirmation of all bona fide grants of land made prior 
to its date. Vour situation in Congress must have made 
you sensible of the embarrassments and difficulties \inder 
which the United States have labored from frequent appli- 
cations for the confirmation of titles to lands in the territories 
heretofore ceded to tlioni, in cases in which the original 



conditions of the grants had nol[bcen roniplii d with. It is, 
therefore, desirable that tlie stipulation, on the part of the 
llnited States, to confirm grants previously made, should be 
limited in terms more explicit tliaii licrttufore uscd,lo.casc8 
in which the conditions of the ;:rants have been fully com- 
plied with, whenever the time for such compliance shall 
have expired. 

"The treaty may also contain aprovisionsimilar to thatin 
the Louisiana and" Florida treaties, for the incorporation of 
the inhabitants into the Union, as soon as it can be done 
consistently with the principles of the Federal Constitution, 
and for the enjoymentof their liberty, property, and religion. 
It will, of course, contain a stiiiulation for the delivery of the 
country to the United States, simultaneously, ora.s nearly so 
as may be practicable, with the payment of the considera- 
tion. 

" This despatch will be delivered to you by Colonel An- 
thony Butler, of the State of Mississippi. Colonel Butler 
lias made himself well acquainted, by actual examination, 
with the territory in question, its streams and localities. In 
the belief that he deserves your confidence, and that he 
may be useful to you in the negotiation, by supplying you 
with facts which might not otherwisebe within your reach, 
he has been instructed tooberveyour directions in regard to 
his stay at Mexico, and his agency in the matter whilst 
there. 

" A full power, authorizing you to negotiate and conclude 
a treatv, as stated above, is herewith transmitted to you. 

" I have the honor to be, with great respect your obedient 
servant, "M. VAN BUKEN. 

"Joel R. Poin'srtt, Esq., FMvoy Extraordinary and 

"Minister Plenijiol'entiary U. S. to Mexico.'' 

We are doomed to listen from time to time in 
this Hall to much small wit and pointless sarcasm, 
on progressive democraaj, and manifest destiny. The 
documents I have referred to p.rove, at atiy rate, 
that pro,2;ressive democracy in this aggradizement 
began with eminent statesmen, leaders of the Whig 
party; and that manifest destiny is no inore than 
democratic sequel of their lead. Alexander f-Iamil- 
ton was the only American statesman, perhaps, 
who, sixty j'^ears ago, foresaw these vast but 
natural and )-)rovideniial extensions of American 
dominion. The next stride we shall see, is to 
the shores of the Pacific. Mr. Adams, Mr. Clay, 
and Mr. Van Buren, having long labored for 
Texas, Jackson's instinctive sagacity led him much 
further — to the magnificent acquisition which is 
broached in the following letter from Mr. Secre- 
tary Forsyth to his Me^cican Minister, Butler, 
dated August 6, 1835: 

J\Ir. Forsijlh to Mr. Butler.— Exlracl. 
" Department of State, 

" Washington, August 6, 1835. 

"Sir: It having been represented to the President that 



e port of St. Francisco, on tTic western coast of the United 
...exican States, would-be a most desirable place of resort 
for our numerous vessels engaged in the whaling busmess 
in the Pacific, far preferable to any to which they now have 
access, he has directed that an additioii should be made to 
your instructions relative to the negotiation for Texas. The 
main object is to secure within our limits the whole bay of 
St. Francisco. If you can iiidnce the Mexican Government 
to agree to any line which will effect this, you are autho- 
rized to offer a sum of in additioii to the sum 

you were dircct(id to offer for the first line- mentioned in 
your original instructions upon the subject. You are to 
endeavor first to obtain the following boundary, which is 
considered the most eligible : ^ , ., 

" Beginning at the Gulf of Mexico, proceed along the 
eastern bank of the Rio Bravo del Norte to the thirty-seventh 
parallel of latitude, and thence along that parallel to the Pa- 

"Tliis line may probably be supposed to approach too 
near, if not to include the Mexican settlement of Monterey. 
If the objection should be urged, you can obviate it by ex- 
plaining that we have no desire to interfere with the actual 
settlements of Mexico on that coast, and you may agree to 
any provision effecting the great object of securing the bay 



10 



of St. Francisco and excluding Monterey in its immediate 
neigliboiliood. " • 

" As it is not deemed essential to obtain the Eio Bravo 
del Norte for our western boundary, if any objection should 
be made to it, you may next propose the western line speci- 
fied in 30ur original instruction?, but stopping at the thirty- 
seventh parallel, or at any other line that would include the 
bay of St. Francisco, and proceeding along such hue to the 
Pacific. If the Rio Bravo del Norte should be agreed upon 
as the western line, you may stipulate for the free naviga- 
tion of that river to both parties. 

" If, however, you cannot obtain a southern line which 
will jiiiclude within our limits the whole bay of St. Fran- 
cisco, you will proceed, under your original instructions, 
and bring the negotiation to a close, as directed in the letter 
from the department of the 2d July, 1835, No. 94. 

" I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, 

"JOHN FORSYTH. 
"Anthony Bdtler, Esq., 

"Charts d'affaires of the United States, Mexico." 

Much, likewise, having been said of our origi- 
nal light to the Bravo boundary, let me cbse this 
correspondence, of which much more in like strain 
might be added, by a letter from our Minister in 
Mexico, showing what was thought and said, and 
perfectly understood there, from first to last, on that 
point. 

Mr. Poinsett to Mr. Clay. — Extract. 

" Legation of the United States, 
" Mexico, September 20, 1825. 
" Sir : I had an interview this morning with the Secretary 
of State, at his request, on the subject of the boundary line 
between tlie two republics. He began by saying that he 
wished to ascertain the ancient boundaries between the 
United States and the Spanish possessions, as defined by 
the treaty of 1795, and asked me to trace them for him in 
Mellish's map. I did so, but observed at the same time, that 
that treaty was concluded before the cession of Louisiana. 
I then inquired his object in wishing to ascertain the former 
boundaries. He replied, that he thought it vv'ould be advi- 
sable in the treaty we were about concluding, to specify the 
ancient boundary until tlie new line was agreed upon. / 
replied, he must be aware that, previous to the treaty with Spain 
concluded at Washington in 1819, the United Slates of America 
claimed to the Rio Bravo del Norte, and Spain to the Missis- 
sippi, and that treaty was a compromise of various disputed 
claims made by the contracting parties ; that it was binding 
on the United Mexican States, having been concluded before 
their emancipation from Spain, and bad since been acknowl- 
edged by their accredited agent in the United States of 
America. Tliere had been.ample time to have carried that 
treaty into full efl%ct, but that the Governmentof the United 
States had been withheld from doing so only by motives of 
delicacy towards Mexico. That the same motives had in- 
duced me to propose an entire new treaty, which should 
rot allude to the one formerly concluded with Spain, but 
that in so doing, Idid not intend to yield one squ.^re inch of 
land which was included within the limits of the United 
States according to the boundary line at that time agreed 
upon. That in my opinion a more advantageous boundary 
might be drawn between the two countries, but that such a 
line was not to be sought for east of the Sabine, or north of 
the Red river or the Arkansas, and that finally no article 
Such as he proposed could be inserted in the treaty without 
my renewing in it the claim of the United States to the 
country north and east of the Rio Bravo del Norte. On my 
return home, I sent him a copy of the note from the Mexi- 
can charge d'aff'aires to the Secretary of State at Washing- 
ton, together with the treaty between the United States and 
Spain, concluded at Washington, in 1819." 

By the first Minister this country sent to that, 
after cherishing and fostering Mexican independ- 
ence and prosperity, her Government was distinct- 
ly told that every square inch of ground to the 
Bravo had long been our possession. And did 
Mexico then deny it.' No such denial appears in 
any official or authentic instrument, correspond- 
ence, or form. Both nations well knew that Loui- 
siana, as we purchased it from France, extended 



to the Bravo. President Adams and Secretary 
Clay asserted it by their Minister, Mr. Poinsett; 
nor was it till Europe interfered, that long after 
1825, (that is, in 183S,) Mexico, after being defeated 
in an unprincipled attempt to conquer Texas, set 
up the wholly unfounded pretension that that prov- 
ince was always Mexican. 

Yes, sir, the assertion was just, that Texas was 
a bloodless acquisition. It wdlild and should have 
been by right. But great meddling powers from 
across the Atlantic encoui'aged Mexico to resist 
by arms the peaceable transition from national 
sovereignty to State union. Mexico reckoned 
without her host when she counted on English, 
and, perhaps, French intervention. PresidentPolk 
manfully and successfully resisted that co<iibina- 
tion, and it was abandoned: Not only so, but it 
never will be again attempted. Mexico reckoned 
without her host when she counted on impunity 
from Executive inability to make war, however 
threatened; and Mexico reckoned without herhost, 
when Almonte told her, as it is said he did, that a 
party in the United States would clog, probably 
stop, the wheels of Government, and discomfit, if 
it could not prevent war. Mexico invaded Texas, 
murdered Cross and Porter, captured Thornton 's 
detachment, menaced Taylor, made, as she de- 
clared, war. The imposthume festering so long 
on the side of the American body politic was broke, 
an embarrassing predicament was removed, and an 
act of Congress put it in the President's power to 
bring Mexico to her senses. 

This documentary history, not probably famil- 
iar to many, proves unquestionably that Mr. 
Polk's Administration has attempted no more by 
war and coriquest forced on it than Mr. Adams's, 
General Jackson's, Mr. Van Buren's, and Mr. 
Tyler's Administrations steadily and wisely pur- 
sued, viz. the acquisition of more^ territory on the 
Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific, together with 
corresponding boundaries with Mexico. It has 
been the avowed and wise policy of our Gsvern- 
ment ever since Mexican sovereignty. It is the 
destiny of this country; essential to its peace and 
prosperity, and preferable for Mexico herself. 
For what foothold, authority, or resources, had 
Mexico ever in Texas or Upper California .' None, 
or hardly any whatever. A few scattered, indo- 
lent, insubordinate vagabonds in California, under 
the merely nominal power of Mexico, and no 
Mexican population at all in Texas, or authority 
there. It will be a great advantage to both those 
countries, and no disadvantage to Mexico, when 
peopled by our freemen and governed by our laws. 
The new boundary line will be a natural and ad- 
mirable terminus to our southwestern possessions; 
on the Gulf of Mexico indispensable to the whole 
valley of the Mississippi, and on the Pacific, im- 
portant to New England, New York, and all the 
navigating interests: much more important to the 
island of Nantucket and the port of Salem, in Mas- 
sachusetts, than to any State or seaport south of 
the Hudson. It will be a great addition to our 
territories indeed, but like Louisiana, at least as 
valuable to the eastern as to the southern portion 
of these United States, and beneficial to all man- 
kind, to whose commerce it will be thrown open. 

Having thus explained what unquestionably 



11 



api)cars to have been always the policy of our 
Government, let me row indicate what I think 
should have been the Executive course of proceed- 
ing when Mexico rejected our overtures and min- 
isters of peace, prepared and declared hostilities; 
and no doubt reckoning on European help, as well 
as aid which General Almonte is said to have 
promised fiom party opposition here, marched 
armies to the frontier to drive ours from Texas. 
There is always a peace party in the event of any 
war by this country. There must be. It is in 
the nature of our institutions and people. A party 
in opposition to the party in power, is the police 
of every free State; and unless degenerating into 
faction, is a salutary and necessary check on the 
administration of Government. Our flagrant mis- 
understanding with England as to Oregon, con- 
tinual fluctuations of parties, impotency of the 
Executive to make war and aversion of our people 
to its pecuniary burdens, all conspired to stimu- 
late Mexico to resistance by arms. Some of the 
most respectable of our countrymen pronounced 
annexation of Texas ipso facto war with Mexico. 
At the same time Texas was annexed; the union 
was consummated; that Mexican province became 
an American State, and called on the President for 
protection by force from Mexican invasion. 

Having in the report of the Committee of Foreign 
Affairs of last session, now I trust to be dissemina- 
ted, submitted views of the much-contested ques- 
tion whether the President or Mexico began hostili- 
ties; whether they were begun on American, or 
Mexican, or disputed ground, — I shall not now re- 
peat that argument, but respectfully refer to the re- 
port of last session. I mean now to take higher 
ground; and with great deference submit a constitu- 
tional position, which requires no more for its es- 
tablishment than that the territory between the Nue- 
ces and the Bravo was at least disputed ground; that 
we claimed it; and that the President, in ordering 
General Taylor to the neighborhood of Matamo- 
ros, knew that, if not our indisputable territory, 
at any rate, our negotiations for many years — ever 
since the purchase of Louisiana — and our receiit 
legislation, considered it as ours. That fact cannot 
be denied. Granting, for argument's sake, that 
Mexico claimed it too, and considered it hers, I 
contend that it was the President's constitutional 
right and duty to prevent Mexico from expelling 
Texas Trom the territory in dispute. Having ex- 
amined the subject when Taylor was first ordered 
there, I took the liberty of advising Mr. Polk that 
his right and policy were, not to await Mexican 
forces on this side of the Bravo, but to oi'der our 
commander to cross that river, meet, and crush the 
invaders on their own soil. When they passed the 
Rubicon, we should have crossed the Ijravo. The 
second clause of the tenth section of the first arti- 
cle of the Constitution of the United States pro- 
vides, that no State "shall engage in war, unless 
actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will 
not admit of delay." Tliat was precisely the pre- 
dicament of the State of Texas. And her constitu- 
ted authorities, instead of engaging in war single- 
handed, called on the President for protection. 
General Arista, with some two thousand troops, 
was at Matarnoros. General Ampudia, with some 
two thousand more, was on his way thither, 



avowedly to join Arista, and together commit 
hostilities. War was declared at the Mexican 
capital. I think it cannot be denied that the State 
of Texas, by the Constitution of the United States, 
was authorized to " engage in war" with Mexico — 
a war of self-defence. If so, was not the Presi- 
dent, called on by that State for protection against 
Mexican invasion, authorized, as Texas certainly 
was, to repel the invader? The two acts of Con- 
gress on this subject, of May 2, 1792, and made 
perpetual by that of February 28, 1795, are ex- 
plicit, " that whenever the United States shall be 
' in imminent danger of invasion from any foreign 
' nation, it shall be lawful for the President of the 
• United States to call forth such number of the 
' militia as he may judge necessary to repel such 
' invasion. " The distinction is broadly drawn by 
the Constitution, and these laws which carry it 
out, between actual and imminent danger of inva- 
sion. The Executive is as much authorized to act 
in the case of danger as in that of actuality; and 
the State power to " engage in war" is, in like man- 
ner, marked by this distinction. The President's 
is an extreme power, no doubt, to be most carefully 
exercised. President Polk is a prudent man, and 
was alive to the dread responsibility of his situa- 
tion. It was much easier for me to advise than 
for him to do what I advised over the Bravo. But 
I submit, far in advance of the question of bound- 
ary with which it has been attempted to bind him, 
that, in the exercise of a sound and fair discretion, 
looking to all the circumstances, he would have 
been justified in ordering General Taylor to cross 
the boundary, whether acknowledged or disputed, 
anticipate the threatened attack, carry the war into 
the enemy's country, and, by prevention, put a 
stop to it. He thought otherwise, and I do not 
presume to censure him. Still I believe, that if 
General Taylor, with his some three thousand 
troops, had been ordered to attack General Arista, 
with some two thousand, at Matamoros, and had 
demolished him before General Ampudia joined 
with two thousand more, who, in the event of 
Arista's overthrow, might then have been crushed 
too, by this anticipation of the imminent danger, it. 
would all have vanished, and there would probably 
have been no more trouble with Mexico. Will it 
be contended, as I ventured to illustrate my argu- 
ment to the President, that if Mexico had a naval 
squadron equal to ours there, and it was seen sail- 
ing down to attack ours, colors flying, guns loaded, . 
and all cleared for action, that ours must lie at an- 
chor till assailed, and not, till some hundreds of our 
people had been slaughtered, return the blow ? It 
cannot be that such an absurcRty is law. The mili- 
tary principle, that a commander, having reason to 
apprehend that he is about to be attacked, is safest 
by anticipating the assault and becoming the assail- 
ant, is true even in the controversy of debate. It 
is universal wisdom, and as such ingrafted on our 
Constitution and laws. 

President Polk had great precedents, as I will 
show from transactions of Washington and .Tack- 
son, strongly analogous to his difliculty with Mex- 
ico, and as I conceive justifying his assuming the 
offensive from the moment that President Paredes, 
from the capital of Mexico, in April, declared war 
and openly sent troops to the Bravo to wage it by 



1^ 



the reconquest of Texas. It will be remembered 
that after the peace of American independence, in 
1783, the British, contrary to treaty, held several 
frontier positions, from which they stimulated the 
Indians to hostilities against the United States. 
Washington's Administration was harassed and 
perplexed by these anglo-Indian hostilities. Army 
after army, year following year, was sent out 
under Generals Harmer and St. Clair, to subdue 
the Indians, but always defeated. At length, in 
1794, General Wayne was despatched (and Presi- 
dent Harrison served with him) to make, as he 
did, a great and successful effort. On the 2Sth of 
August, 1794, he attacked and routed the allied 
Indians and English, under the very guns of an 
English fort, now in the Congressional district of an 
honorable member from Ohio. Wayne ravaged 
the residence and possessions of Colonel McKee, 
the British Indian agent; and in disputed territory, 
actually occupied by British troops. This House 
shall hear what President Washington sanctioned. 
[Read from the official report of General Wayne.] 
Be it remembered that the army of the United 
States was then but twelve hundred men, that the 
people of the whole United States numbered but 
four millions, and that Washington's Administra- 
tion had the mighty empire of Great Britain to 
deal with, under circumstances strongly analogous 
to those of President Polk, when he ordered Gen- 
eral Taylor into at least disputed territory — territo- 
ry claimed, if not owned, by us. Gentlemen will 
find a smack of revolutionary manhood in Wayne's 
proceedings on that occasion, which effectually 
broke down anglo-Indian power for a time at least. 
Extract from General Wayne's official letter 
to General Knox, Secretary of War, dated Head 
duarters. Grand Glaise, August 28, 1794: 

" From every account the enemy amounted to two thou- 
sand combatants, the troops actually cngiiged against tlieni 
were short of nine hundred. This hord of savages, with 
their allies,'"abaudoned themselves to flight, and dispersed 
with terror aiitl dismay, leaving our victorious army in full 
and quiet possession of the field of battle, which terminated 
under the influence of the guns of the British garrison, as 
you will observe by the enclosed correspondence between 
Major Campbell, the commandant, and myself upon the 
occasion." 

Corresponlence between ULtjor General TVaync and M.ijor 
William Gimvbell. 
No. I. 
" MiAMis RiVKR, ^u^ust 21, 1794. 
'• Sir: An army of the United States of America, .'aid to be 
under your command, having taken post on the banks of the 
Mianiis, for upwards of the last twenty-four hours, almost 
within reach of the guns of this fort, being a post belonging 
to his M.ij.isty the King of Great Britain, occupied by his 
majesty's troops, and which I have tlie honor to commanfl, it 
becomes my duty to intdl-m myself, as speedily as possible, 
in what light I am to view your making such near approach- 
es to this garrison. 

" I have no hesitation on my part to say, that I know of 
no war existing between Great Britain and America. 

" I have the honor to be, sir, with great respect, your most 
obedient and very humble servant, 

" WILLIAM CAMPBELL, 
" Major Uith Reg., coinmanding a BritUh Post, 
on tlie banJcs of the Mlamis. 
To Major General Wayne, ^-c, lij-c, ^c." 

No. ir. 
" Camp on the bank of the Miamis, 
August 21, 17*4. 
" Sir : I have received your letter of this date, requiring 
from me the niotives vvliich have moved the army under my 
command, to the position they at present occupy, far within 



the acknowledged jurisdicLion of the United States of 
America. 

" Without questioning the authority, or the propriety, sir, 
of your interrogatory, I think I may, without breach of de- 
corum, observe to you, that wore you entitled to an answer, 
the most sitisfacttiry Oiie was announced to you from the 
muzzles of my small arms yesterday morning, in an action 
against the horde of savages, in Uie vicinity of your posts, 
which terminated gloriously to the American arms; but, 
had it continued until the Indians, &c., were drove under 
the iniiuence of the post and guns you mention, they would 
not have nmch impeded the progress of the victorious army, 
under my command, as no such post was established at the 
commencement of the present war between the Indians and 
the United States. 

" I have the honor to be, sir, with great respect, your most 
obedient, and very humble servant, 

« (Signed,) ANTHONY WAYNE. 

" Major General and Commander-in-c/iicf 
of the Federal army. 

" To Major William Campbell, ^-c., J:,-c." 

No. HI. 

" Fort Miamis, August 22, 1794. 

" Sir : Although your letter of yesterday's date fully au- 
thorizes me to any act of hostility against the army of the 
United States of America, in this neighborhood, under your 
command, yet, still anxious to prevent that dreadful de- 
cision, which perhaps is not intended to be appealed to by 
either of our countries, I have forborne for these two days 
past to resent those insults you have offered to the British 
flag flying at this fort, by approaching it witliin pistol-shot 
of my works, not only singly, but in numbers with arms in 
their hands. 

" Neitlier is it my wish to wage war with individuals ; but 
should you after this continue to approach my post, in the 
threatening manner you are at this momentdoing, my indis- 
pensable duty to my king and country, and the honor of my 
profession, will obligo me to have recourse to those measures, 
which thousands of either nation may hereafter have cause 
to regret; and which I solemnly appeal to God, I have 
used my endeavors to arrest. 

" I have the Iiouor to be, sir, with much respect, your 
most obedient and very humble servant, 

« (Signed) WILLIAM CAMPBELL, 

" Major iltk Reximent, commanding at Fort Miamis. 
"To Major General Wayne, i'c., ^'c., ^x." 

[No otlier notice was taken of this lett.'r than is express- 
ed in the following letter. The fort and works were, how- 
ever, reconnoitred in every direction, at some points possi- 
bly within pistol shot. It was found to be a regular strong 
work, the front covered by a wide river, witli four guns 
mounted in that face. Tiie rear, which was the most sus- 
ceptible of approach, had two regular ba5tions,t"urnished with 
eight pieces of artillery, the whole surrounded with a wide 
steep ditch, with horizontal pickets projecting from the berm 
of the parapet over the ditch; from llie bottom of the ditch 
to the top of the parapet the works were also surrounded by 
an abatlis, and furnished with a strong garrison.] 

No. IV. , 

"Sir: In your letter of the 91st infant, you declare, '1 
' have no hesitation on my part to say, that I know of no 
'war e.visting between Great Britain and America.' 

" I, on my part, declare tlie same ; and the only cause I 
have to entertain a contrary idea at present, is, the hostile 
act you are now in commission of, tliat is, recently taking 
post far within the well known and acknowledged limits of 
the United States, and erecting a fortification in the heart of 
the settlein:-:nts of the Indian tribes now at war with the 
United States. This, sir, appears to he an act of the high- 
est aigression, and destructive to the peace and interest of 
the Union. Hence, it becomes my duty to desire, and I do 
hereby desire and demand, in the name of the President of 
the United States, that you immediately desist from any 
further act of hostility or aggression, by forbearing to fortify, 
and by withdrawing the troops, artillery, and stores, under 
your orders and direction t()rthwith, and removing to the 
nearest post occupied by his Britannic Majesty's troops at 
the peace of 1783; and which you will be permitted to do so 
unmolested by the troops under my command. 

" I am, with very great respect, sir, your most obedient 
and very humble servant, 

" (Signed) ANTHONY WAYNE. 

"To Majtjr William Campbelt., f)-c.. A-c." 



la 



No. V. 
" Fort MiamIs, .August 23,1794. 

"Sir: I have this ninniont the honor to acknowledge the 
receipt of your letter of this date. In answer to which, I 
have only to say, that heing placed hen; in command of a 
British pojt, and acting in a military capacity only, I cannot 
enter into any discussion, either on the right, or impropriety 
of my occupying my present 4)osition. Those are matters 
that I conceive vvill be hest left to tlie ambassadors of our 
different nations. 

" Having said this much, permit mc to inform you, that I 
certainly will jiot abandon this post at the summons of any 
power whatever, until I receive orders to that purpose from 
tliose I have the honor to serve under, or the fortune of war 
should oblige me. I must st II adhere, sir, to the purport of 
my letter this morning, to desire that your army, or individ- 
uals belonging to it, will not approach vi'ithin reach of my 
cannon, without expecting the consequences attending it. 

" Although I have said in the former part of my letter that 
my situation here is totally military, yet let me add, sir, that 
1 am much deceived if his Majesty the King of Great Brit- 
ain had not a post on tliis riVer, at and prior to the period 
you mention. 

" I have the honor to be, sir, with the greatest respect, 
your most obedient and verv humble servant, 

« WILLIAM CAMPBELL, 
"Major 2ifh rcs'ment, commani'.ins[ nt Fort Miamis. 
« To Major General Wayne, Jic, ij-c., ^-c." 

[The only notice taken of this letter, was by immediately 
setting tire to and destroying everythiiig within view of the 
fort, and even under the muzzles of the guns. Had Mr. 
Campbell carried his threats into execution, it is mora tlian 
probable he would have experienced a storm.] 

This method, sanctioned by Washington, in the 
weak infancy of this republic to deal with enemies, 
is not the only precedent or analogy to be referred to. 
It is a sign of very great improvement in those once 
bitterly opposed to Jackson, and to Madison, to 
applaud them, as many do of late, to acknowledge 
their great merits. Can any one doubt what Jack- 
son would have done, if he had commanded our 
army at Corpus Christi when ordered to advance 
towards Mataraoros — what he would have done 
as a commander, or ordered a commander to do if 
President? Is it not clear that he would not have 
waited for the junction of Arista and Ampudia 
crossing the Bravo to attack him, but would have 
himself led his army over that river to attack them 
before their junction ? AVhat he did at New Or- 
leans on his memorable attack of the 23d of Decem- 
ber, anticipating and frustrating English attack a 
thousand limes more brilliant, more prudent, and 
more military, than his great victory of the 8th of 
January, whicli was but the result, the mere off- 
spring of the first battle — tells what .Tackson would 
have done if General, and ordered if President. In 
the year 1817, General Jackson pursued Indians 
into Florida, where he executed British intruders, 
and captured Fort Barrancas and Pensacola, in 
Spanish territory. President Monroe occupied 
militarily Galveston and Amelia Island, and I feel 
satisfied that if Jackson had been Chief Magis- 
trate when Mexico marched armies into, and 
declared war to invade Texas, that State would 
have been defended by military measures, far be- 
yond those for which President Polk is censured 
as the author of war; and I believe that such mea- 
sures would have had pacific influence. England 
and France have never stopped to parley with Mex- 
ican pillage, but at once punished it, and always 
efiectually. Now while aware of the difference be- 
tween the war declaring power, as an executive or. 
legislative faculty, I deny that our Government is 
so constructed as to be less capable of instantaneous 



and complete repulsion of invasion than any othei*. 
If the fact be that Mexican invasion of Texas was 
imminent — and who can doubt it? — I submit that 
the Executive authority, without act of Congress, 
declaring war, adequate to the emergency. I do 
not deny the awfiilness of the responsibility, or 
reproach prudence for avoiding it. On the con- 
trary I agree to Mr. Winthrop's doctrine, that 
the Chief Magistrate, the commandci'-in-chief, 
like any of his inferior officers, general of the 
army or commander of a ship of war, risks all 
when he makes battle, li he fails, he may be 
tried and condemned for it: it is the fortune of 
war. Still he has the righl to try, if he choses to 
assume the responsibility. 

"War itself, thus extensively considered, leaves 
little space or time for views of the method in which 
our Mexican war has been waged and the effects 
of its conquests. No doubt mere conc[uest gives no 
permanent right or title, without either legal sanc- 
tion or length of possession. To conquer land is 
analagous to settling on it. Neither the conqueror 
or settler becomes proprietor, without further pro- 
ceedingsand sanctions. I disclaim the idea that any 
partof conquei-ed Mexico isnow ours by mere con- 
quest. Civil government. Congress by legislation 
or the Senate hy treaty, must act civilly before the 
belligerant operation becomes valid. 

That point is of no great difficulty. Whether 
the transactions of General Kearny in New Mexi- 
co, and Commodore Stockton in California, con- 
form to law, is more of a question. Upon the whole, 
however, I deem those gallant Jersey Blues within 
the pale of law in their civil government. Gentle- 
men, particularly Mr. Hilliard, quote Vattel to 
condemn the changes introduced. But I deny Vat- 
tel 's authority — a modern and convenient text- 
book, but not accepted as law. Much greater au- 
thority is Grotius, whom (as Mr. Hilliard says) 
Gustavus Adolphus took with him on campaigns, 
fortified as all his positions are by historical and 
other citations, more' reliable than Vattel 's specu- 
lations. Conquest is a change of sovereignty. 
The whole matter is an affair ofsovereignty. The 
conqueror imposes a new sovereignty on the con- 
quered, and it is optional with the conqueror to 
determine what law shall be established. He may 
even change the religion, Grotius says, which is 
the extreme of conquering imposition. Grotius, 
book 3, chapter 15, treats this subject fully. No 
doubt what is called the modern law of nations, 
its tendencies, is to mitigate, not aggravate, the 
condition of the vanquished; and therefore, as 
Vattel argues, their liberties, privileges, and im- 
munities, are commonly left to them. But it is op- 
tional with the conqueror whether so to leave them, 
and to what extent. The conqueror makes the 
law, which the conquered made till conquered. 
That is the common sense of the whole doctrine. 
The law of political rights, as well as of personal 
or territorial property, is just the same. When 
Mr. Hilliard asserts that the Castine cose, as 
determined by the Supreme Court of the United 
States, involved a question of mere property, I 
think he is mistaken. Castine was captured, oc- 
cupied, and all its laws administered by the enemy. 
Still the Congressional representative of that dis- 
trict, the present Lieutenant Governor of Massa- 



14 



chusetts, Mr. John Read, maintained his seat in 
Congress, probably because the whole of his dis- 
trict was not in hostile possession. The authori- 
ties cited by Mr. Webster in the argument which 
the court adopted, and their express opinion, are, 
that during the British occupation iheir government 
exercised all the authority, civil and military; estab- 
blished their own custom-house, which certainly 
was a dispossession of ours, and a substitution of 
their authority in all things. 

It is contended, however, that inasmuch as mere 
military conquest or occupation is but temporary 
and provisional, awaiting the confirmation of trea- 
ty or legislation, therefore our military and naval 
officers had no right to change civil institutions, 
which even the President himselfcannot do; but the 
whole must await ulterior governmental action. In 
theory, at least, it is so. The Senate or Congress 
must ev^entually determine whether to restore New 
Mexico and California to Mexico, or to retain and 
regulate them. But are our officers blameable for 
introducing our laws there instead of the Mexican 
anarchy? The orders from both the War and Navy 
Departments look to ultimate ownership, it is said. 
Probably so. After so many offers to purchase 
those territories, and twenty years negotiations for 
them, it could hardly be otherwise. Yet it must 
be conceded that the orders of both departments 
are cautiously and inoffensively expressed, and are 
obnoxious to no blame. If any blame is due, it 
must fall on the officers for excess. And can we 
blame them with justice ? Hurried off, as the ships 
of war were to California, long before hostilities, 
and as Kearny's admirable expedition of nearly a 
thousand miles in fifty days was instantly, on the 
occurrence of war, with knowledge that New 
Mexico and California have long been sought by 
our Government, were those agents of it disobe- 
dient when — they did what? — no more than intro- 
duce our laws among a half civilized people whom 
they had every reason to believe were soon to be 
American citizens. If they had been Indians, should 
our commanders have left them in the full exercise 
of every barba'- ^us usage ? Do we not always civ- 
ilize, human'' , and reclaim vanquished savao'es? 
And how much are the few straggling vagabonds 
of California, or the not much more numerous 
civilized half-breeds of New Mexico, superior to 
savages? Slothful, superstitious, brutish people, 
sprinkled over great spaces, can they be injured by 
representation, toleration, bills of rights, justice 
without bribery or cruelty, jury trial, and personal 
liberty? Are our governments, as Mr. Milliard 
intimates, disparaged before the world by their offi- 
cers propagating civil and religious freedom among 
the heathen ? 

The law of nations, for which the time-serving 
Vattel is relied on, what is it? Which are the 
nations that acknowledge it? Contiguous, popu- 



lous, homogeneous Europe, where might is right, 
may find some international code convenient. But 
Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay, whose measures in 
our Mexican relations I have cited, appointed a 
mission to Panama, in order to reform that code, 
and establish an Jhnerican law of nations. When 
Cortez conquered Mexico, should he have suffered 
the Mexicans to persevere in their dreadful idola- 
try, to put all prisoners to death as sacrifices to 
their infernal gods? The Sultan has built a free- 
school on the ruins of the barracks where his 
father exterminated the Janizaries. The Pope 
propagates liberal institutions. Shall the more 
sneered at than justly censurable progressive De- 
mocracy of this hemisphere, this country, in many 
respects outstripped by European reform, halt at 
extending the area of freedom on our own conti- 
nent? If our troops should be withdrawn from 
New Mexico and California, the good they have 
already done there is worth a war by the meliora- 
tions introduced. 

Wars, as too often caused and conducted, are the 
greatest calamities and scourges; but, thus waged, 
they are stripped of nearly all their evils and ter- 
rors. If our most censurable violation of Vattel 's 
law of nations consist in giving free institutions 
to ignorant, barbarous, and degraded people, the 
offence will be more than venial. If Mr. Polk's 
Admnistration be chargeable with nothing worse 
than its orders to Commodore Stockton and Gener- 
al Kearny, and those gallant, generous command- 
ers' execution of their orders, the darkest page in 
its annals will be bright with humanity, improve- 
ment, and reformation. On a former occasion, I 
alluded to Mr. Polk's good fortune — his star. In 
the tariff reform, how fortunate he has been! In 
the currency reform, too ! Never was the currency 
of this country on so solid a basis, as since the en- 
actment of the constitutional treasury, which, in 
spite of stupid and inveterate prejudices, is work- 
ing, like freer industry, a sure establishment in our 
habits, liking, and respect. And the Mexican war, 
what are its mighty evils ? Agriculture, commerce, 
manufactures, navigation — which of them suffers? 
which is not flourishing? Frequently long wars are, 
and I repeat, calamitous to mankind. But occasional 
national conflict is in the orderof God's providence. 
Is there any portion of this country which would 
now give back Texas or California? if the Presi- 
dent were so inclined. Will any humane or rational 
being find fault with our officers introducing self- 
government in Mexican territories ? 

" Who overcomes 
By force, hath overcome but half his foe." 

Let it be the boast of our arms, when challenged 
to conflict, that their first useofvictoryis to improve 
not only the ways of war, but those of peace, too, 
by mild, tolerant, and beneficent laws. 



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